PS5 stock bought by scalpers before units listed for sale
The UK store was hit by an organised scalping group
PlayStation 5 console. Credit: Sony
UK retailer Argos has been hit by a group of organised scalpers who managed to purchase PS5 stock before it officially went on sale.
IGN the stock refresh was targeted with an exploit by scalpers.
The group claims to have been able to access unlisted URLs on the Argos website, allowing them to checkout before the items officially went on sale.
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Members of the paid-for scalping group posted photos of their spoils on social media, complete with their receipts. One scalper claimed they had used this online shopping hack to buy seven consoles from four different shops. Smyths, John Lewis, Argos, and Studio were all impacted.
18/12/201
The scarcity of PlayStation 5 consoles in the UK (and other parts of the world) has been a recurring news story in the build up to its mid-November launch. If failing to secure a PS5 via pre-order wasn’t frustrating enough, prospective console owners have been left enraged by scalpers looking to flog them at a much higher price on marketplaces such as eBay, Facebook, and Gumtree.
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A debate surrounding the act of scalping – and, more crucially, the use of bots to automatically order consoles and other expensive tech – has been called for by a number of UK Members of Parliament (MPs).
UK Politicians Call for Action Against Console Scalping and Bots
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Several members of the UK parliament have filed a motion intended to look at prohibiting the resale of gaming consoles and computer components at prices greatly above Manufacturer’s Recommended Retail Price in addition to making the resale of goods obtained via bots illegal. In case you somehow weren t already aware, the resale of the next-gen video game consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X has been quite lucrative, and the use of bots to find and grab such items has long been a problem since before the current console launch.
Foot the bill. Updated on 16 December 2020
Since the release of both the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5, stories of scalpers and scalping groups have dominated the headlines - with seemingly no consequences for those doing the scalping other than a tasty pile of profit. But now a group of politicians hopes to take action, as several MPs have put forward a motion in UK Parliament to prohibit the resale of consoles and PC parts that are significantly overpriced.
As spotted by VGC, the motion tabled by six Scottish National Party (SNP) MPs calls for the government to introduce legislation to prohibit the resale of gaming consoles and PC components at prices greatly above Manufacturer s Recommended Retail Price (MRRP). The MPs suggest this could be similar in nature to existing legislation for the secondary selling of tickets, which requires sellers to be transparent and avoid misleading customers. The motion also singles out the resale of go
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